CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 5: Ron Gardenhire #35 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates with his players in the visitors dugout at Progressive Field after the Twins defeated the Cleveland Indians for Gardenhire's 1,000 carer win on April 5, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Twins defeated the Indians 7-3. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

CLEVELAND — It wasn’t easy, but Ron Gardenhire finally earned his way into the 1,000-victory club.

It took the Twins manager 12-plus seasons and 1,950 games, but the long-awaited moment arrived on a cold and sunny Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field.

Third baseman Trevor Plouffe tagged Asdrubal Cabrera for the 27th out in a 7-3 win over the Cleveland Indians, and Gardenhire immediately went to hug his coaching staff and team trainers while his players celebrated on the field.

“These 1,000 wins, there’s a lot of people,” Gardenhire said. “You’d love to be able to thank them all: players, my coaches that aren’t with me anymore, coaches that are here. Now we can move forward this year and get another 92 and get in the playoffs.”

Carol Gardenhire, the manager’s wife, was on hand to help celebrate the accomplishment. So was family friend John Schuckert, owner of Bayside Grille, one of the Gardenhires’ favorite hangouts in Fort Myers, Fla.

Gardenhire joins mentor Tom Kelly as the only 1,000-win managers in club history. Kelly achieved the milestone on May 7, 2000, in his 2,093rd career game as manager.

Elevated from Kelly’s coaching staff to replace the two-time World Series winner after the 2001 season, Gardenhire becomes just the 10th manager to claim 1,000 wins with the only big-league team he’s led.

Besides Kelly and Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels, the other seven members of that group are Connie Mack, John McGraw, Walter Alston, Tommy Lasorda, Earl Weaver, Danny Murtaugh and Red Schoendienst. Of those seven, only Murtaugh, the former Pittsburgh manager, has yet to be inducted at Cooperstown.

“I haven’t looked at the list,” Gardenhire said. “I kind of stayed away from all that milestone stuff. I really haven’t gotten into this very much about how many or who. Maybe I’ll look at it now. I guess you tip your hat to those guys because I know how hard it is.”

Perhaps it was a good omen when Brian Dozier opened Saturday’s nationally televised game with a homer on the second pitch. Jacque Jones did the same on April 1, 2002, at Kansas City, where Gardenhire won his inaugural game as Twins skipper.

Like Jones, Dozier is an unconventional leadoff hitter who has earned his manager’s trust.

“Everybody said I was nuts for letting Jacque Jones lead off because he doesn’t have on-base percentage,” Gardenhire said. “But he can make it 1-0. That was my argument, and he did it. He did it quite a few times that year, as a matter of fact.”

Jason Kubel and Josmil Pinto added run-scoring singles in the first. From there, right-hander Kyle Gibson (1-0) and three relievers did the rest.

Gibson lasted just five innings, but the second-year man out of Missouri held the hot-hitting Indians in check, even while facing a lineup that featured just one right-handed batter.

The moment was particularly special for Gardenhire’s players and his coaching staff, two of whom — pitching coach Rick Anderson and first-base coach Scott Ullger — have been with him from the beginning. Gardenhire also mentioned former coaches such as Steve Liddle, Rick Stelmaszek, Jerry White and Al Newman, saying they “were a big part of all these.”

The hope had been to celebrate this millennial moment last September. However, a 5-20 finish that included 10 losses in the final 11 games kept the champagne on ice.

Instead of getting fired amid a run of three straight seasons with 96 losses or more, Gardenhire was brought back on a two-year extension, a testament to his stature within the only organization he’s known since 1987.

Rob Antony, Twins assistant general manager, joked this week about “scratching out the ‘3’ and writing a ‘4’ ” on the bottle of champagne the club had been saving for Gardenhire since the 2013 season.

Saturday, Antony finally was able to present the skipper with a bottle of Dom Perignon as the visiting clubhouse erupted in cheers.

“They could have put a big ol’ Bud Light in there or something, and I would have been happy,” Gardenhire said. “I’ll take it. It’ll look good on the mantel, unless my wife and I drink it tonight. You just never know.”

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